How to control manual excerpt length?

6 comments

1. Take a look on my answer here: Best Collection of Code for your functions.php file

   If I understood your question correctly, it does what you are looking for.

   Place this in functions.php:

   function excerpt($num) {
       $limit = $num+1;
       $excerpt = explode(' ', get_the_excerpt(), $limit);
       array_pop($excerpt);
       $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt)."... (<a href='" .get_permalink($post->ID) ." '>Read more</a>)";
       echo $excerpt;
   }
   

   Then, in your theme, use the code <?php excerpt('22'); ?> to limit the excerpt to 22 characters.

   🙂

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2. With the recent version of WordPress (v.3.3.0+), you can actually use wp_trim_words.

   function excerpt($limit) {
       return wp_trim_words(get_the_excerpt(), $limit);
   }
   

   See also: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17177847/851045

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3. I’d say just look at how core does it: http://phpxref.ftwr.co.uk/wordpress/wp-includes/formatting.php.source.html#l1840

   I took the liberty of putting the code here for ease of copying and pasting.

   global $post;
   if( empty($post->post_excerpt) ){
     $text = apply_filters( 'the_excerpt', get_the_excerpt() );
   } else {
     $text = $post->post_excerpt;
     $text = strip_shortcodes( $text );
     $text = apply_filters('the_content', $text);
     $text = str_replace(']]>', ']]>', $text);
     $text = strip_tags($text);
     $excerpt_length = apply_filters('excerpt_length', 55);
     $excerpt_more = apply_filters('excerpt_more', ' ' . '[...]');
     $words = preg_split("/[nrt ]+/", $text, $excerpt_length + 1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
     if ( count($words) > $excerpt_length ) {
       array_pop($words);
       $text = implode(' ', $words);
       $text = $text . $excerpt_more;
     } else {
       $text = implode(' ', $words);
     }
   }
   

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4. Simply it can be done as below .

   function custom_excerpt_length( $length ) {
       return 20;
   }
   add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'custom_excerpt_length', 999 );
   

   Reference: Codex

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5. Try this: You can control the amount of words the excert outputs with the filter “excerpt_length” below are a couple examples of how you can control the size based on different conditions

   add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'new_excerpt_length' );
   function new_excerpt_length( $more ) {
       if(is_front_page()){
           if(has_post_thumbnail()){
               return 15;
           } else {
               return 45;
           }
       } else {
           return 100;
       }
   }
   

   EDIT: Crap, I just noticed that you said the filter approach was a no go. oh well this is for other people who get here via google and want this then.

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6. Enter this code in your functions.php

   /* easy excerpt limitation
   */
   function
   easy_excerpt($limit) {
   $excerpt = explode(' ', get_the_excerpt(), $limit);
   if (count($excerpt)>=$limit) {
   array_pop($excerpt);
   $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt);
   } else {
   $excerpt = implode(" ",$excerpt);
   }
   $excerpt = preg_replace('`[[^]]*]`','',$excerpt);
   return $excerpt;
   } 
   

   and use echo easy excerpt(mylimit) instead of the_excerpt()
   It works fine.

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